Innehållsförteckning för February 2024 från Ships Monthly

NEWBUILD The Chinese Ministry of Transport, through sub-agency South China Sea Rescue Bureau, has taken delivery of the rescue vessel Nanhai Jiu 103 (‘Nanhai Rescue 103’) from compatriot builder China Merchants Heavy Industry for operation in the South China Sea. Designed by the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI), the new vessel measures 137m by 27m and has been equipped for search and rescue, offshore towing, salvage, firefighting, dive support and oil spill response duties, and has a 250-tonne heave-compensated crane. A maximum speed of 17.5 knots and a bollard pull of 350 tonnes is provided by a diesel-electric propulsion system with a total installed power of 14,000kW, while the 6,450dwt ship’s operating range is 16,000 nautical miles.…

CARGO CRUISING One of the world’s few remaining passenger/cargo ships, the 7,500gt Aranui 5, operated by Tahiti’s Aranui Cruises, is set to offer 22 voyages to destinations within French Polynesia, including the Austral archipelago, a group of seven islands located 375 miles south of Tahiti. Completed by China’s Huanghai Shipbuilding in 2015 and capable of accommodatingupto254 passengers in several classes, the combination passenger/container carrier will operate three 13-day Australs voyages in 2025, touching at the remote islands of Tubuai, Rurutu, Rimatara, Raivavae and Rapa Iti, in addition to its regular voyages from Tahiti to the northern Marquesas group. The 12-day voyages will call at the islands of Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva, Ua Pou, Ua Huka, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva, and there will possibly be calls at the atolls of Fakarava,…

PORT NEWS The Liberian-flagged oil tanker Minerva Rita was one of a number of vessels stranded on the Amazon river following record low water levels that have seen the river reach its lowest levels in over 120 years at the important inland port of Manaus. The stranded vessels cannot count on a ‘high tide’ for possible re-floating but may have to wait for seasonal rains to resume, but these have been delayed by the El Niño weather pattern, which has been nearing historic strength in the Pacific. The 50,922dwt Minerva Rita, built in 2005 by South Korea’s STX Shipbuilding and under the management of Greece’s Minerva Marine, may have to remain in its stranded position for some time. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent,…

CONTAINER SHIPS Ellerman City Liners has reached an agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) which will see Ellerman taking slot capacity on MSC ships which are operating between the Baltic, Northern Europe and the US East Coast. The agreement, which began on 1 January 2024, has an option to increase capacity. For MSC the agreement is a bonus, as it enables the company to increase the volume of guaranteed cargo on its services. The agreement also supplements Ellerman’s current Atlantic services, which are operated by five vessels with container intake of between 2,450 and 5,060TEU. The Essex-based company is expecting to receive two long-term chartered 1,400 TEU capacity vessels this October, which are currently under construction in China.…

NEW FERRY P&O Liberté, the second of the two double-ended 1,500-passenger/200-car Fusion class vessels designed for P&O Ferries services between Dover and Calais, was delivered from China’s Guangzhou Shipyard in November 2023, and is set to join sistership P&O Pioneer during early March, with an entry in service at the end of the month. Costing £220 million in total, the 47,394gt pair are designed for crossing times of an hour and 40 minutes, and make rapid turn-rounds in port, with full bridges at either end. They feature a diesel-battery hybrid propulsion system giving a speed of up to 20.6 knots from two pairs of Wärtsilä diesel engines, each driving am ABB A21 azipod propeller unit, together with 8.8mwt MWH batteries provided by the German Frudenberg Group’s subsidiary XALT Energy. P&O…

FINNLINES Finncanopus, the second of the 68,460gt Finnlines ro-pax series built in China at the CMI Jinling Yard, was handed over in early December 2023 and earned her keep during a six-week delivery voyage carrying cargo and making several calls while she was on the long haul to the Baltic. Due to enter service between the ports of Naantali, Långnäs and Kapellskär in February, Finncanopus joins sister vessel Finnsirius, which was delivered in July 2023, and both carry up to 1,100 passengers with overnight berths in 323 cabins, and there are 5,255 lane metres of vehicle space, with cars loaded via bow, stern and side doors. Registered in Finland, the two 235m-long vessels are each powered by four Wärtsilä diesel engines delivering 2,880kW for a top speed of 22 knots,…

PHOENIX REISEN When Phoenix Reisen’s Amera, formerly Holland America’s Prinsendam, but built as Royal Viking Sun in 1988 by Wärtsilä in Turku, Finland, went into dry dock in Gdansk on 27 September 2023, she was expected to be back in service in time to resume her schedule on 14 December 2023. However, the amount of work needed, including the replacement of her engines, gearboxes, alternators, propellers, bow thrusters and much of the engine room, meant that the target date was not met and the world cruise, due to depart Hamburg on 21 December 2023, was in jeopardy. A solution was found by chartering Celestyal Cruises’ Celestyal Journey, which was out of service due to the cancellation of her winter programme, which included calls in Israel. With no time to get…

SPANISH NAVY Spain has become one of a handful of countries capable of designing and building a modern submarine, following the commissioning of SPS Isaac Peral (S-81). Described as the greatest industrial and technological challenge ever faced by Spanish industry, the €4 billion S-80 programme has experienced a number of significant design, weight and budget issues, which have resulted in the first-of-class taking around 18 years to complete. Nevertheless, the final result is a state-of-the art diesel-electric submarine with the capacity to launch torpedoes, anti-surface missiles and tactical land attack missiles, with a crew of just 32. The class of four will feature Navantia’s proprietary BEST-AIP, an atmosphere-independent propulsion system based on bio-ethanol technology, which will enable several weeks of underwater endurance. The AIP will be installed during the build…

PORTUGUESE NAVY Portugal’s National Defence Ministry has contracted Damen Shipyards for the design and construction of a so-called Multi-functional Naval Platform. The €132 million multi-purpose vessel is largely being funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility which is part of Next Generation EU, the economic recovery package to support EU member states affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The 107m-long vessel, which resembles an amphibious helicopter carrier, has been developed to undertake primary mission roles which include oceanic research, search and rescue, and emergency relief, in addition to maritime safety and naval support operations. For the research and monitoring tasking, the vessel will be equipped with laboratories and accommodation for 42 scientists and unmanned system operators. For naval support, the ship will feature a stern ramp for Unmanned Underwater…

BULK SHIPPING The Italian-owned mini-bulker Sider Luck arrived on the Thames in mid-November 2023 to take the first cargo of scrap metal to be loaded at London Scrap Terminal, at Northfleet. The facility has breathed new life into the jetty, which for years has been used for the import of pulp, most recently Kimberly Clark’s paper mill. In more recent times it has been served by coasters, as well as being used by local dredgers as a lay-by berth. London Scrap Terminal plans to use the berth to export high quality scrap metal to steelmakers around the world. The first cargo to be loaded was taken to the Turkish port of Aliaga.…

CONTAINER SHIPS Hapag-Lloyd has taken delivery of the 14,372TEU capacity container ship Savannah Express, following upgrade works to the vessel in Zhoushan. Savannah Express is one of six sisters the German liner operator agreed to take from New York-exchange listed SFL, on charter for five years. As part of the terms of the contract, over $65 million is being invested in efficiency upgrades for the 2013- and 2014-built vessels, with work that includes the addition of a scrubber. Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the six ships form part of a group of ten vessels which were initially ordered by Greek-owner Enesel for charter to Taiwanese carrier Evergreen Marine. Hapag-Lloyd is deploying the ships on their AA7 service, which connects East Asian ports with those on the US East Coast, via…

NUCLEAR-POWERED Russia’s Atomflot plans to retire the nuclear-powered LASH ship Sevmorput later this year and replace the 36-year-old vessel with a diesel-powered container carrier. The ice-classed Sevmorput, completed by the Zaliv Shipyard in 1988 to a lighter aboard ship (LASH) design, is the world’s only nuclear-powered commercial vessel and is powered by a KLT40 reactor providing steam to a GTZA 684 OM5 turbine to give a maximum speed of 20.8 knots. Although originally designed to carry 74 lighters, each with a cargo capacity of 300 tons, the 33,980dwt vessel has been retro-fitted with two Russian-manufactured 60-tonne cranes, which can be used in tandem to lift 120 tonnes, and she now has a container carrying capacity of 1,328TEU. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18…

In 2021 rumours had abounded for several months that Calais Seaways had been sold by DFDS to Irish Continental Group, and this was confirmed in an announcement made on 4 November 2021. Irish Ferries had established a Dover/Calais service in June 2021 and were keen to expand. That DFDS would sell a vessel to a new direct competitor seemed to be illogical. Nevertheless, the ship was repainted in the attractive cruising white livery of Irish Ferries, complete with green funnel and boot topping. She was renamed Isle of Innisfree and, after berthing trials at the two ports, she entered commercial service for her new owner on 16 December 2021. Her interiors were left virtually unchanged, so that she remained recognisable as a former DFDS ferry. However her facilities were rebranded…

During the mid 1970s, when Nigeria was rapidly spending its newfound oil wealth, hundreds of ships voyaged to Apapa/Lagos with cargoes of bagged cement for use in the building of new roads and army barracks. Due to berth congestion, many ships remained at anchor for several months. On 4 January 1976 the author made a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the port’s anchorage. This article focuses on three ships berthed ‘line astern’ on the cement discharge buoys in Lagos outer harbour. All were very familiar to the author under their original names. The three ships were the former Clearton of Chapman & Willan, Welsh City of Reardon, Smith, and Corcovado of Suisse-Atlantique. Clearton had called at Avonmouth in March 1967 with a cargo of timber from British Columbia, and Welsh City in…

I have had an interest in the CZ (Canal Zone) and ship transits for over 30 years. In the late 1980s I was sifting through a box of ephemera in an old bookshop when I came upon a set of colourised postcard views of US Navy battleships in giant Canal Zone lockages made by IL Maduro, Cathedral Square, Panama. This intrigued me, so I began to hunt down more. I corresponded with collectors in the US (most of whom served in the Canal Zone during the US era), which in turn led to a lifetime of collecting and researching. Colonel Robert Karrer shared the story of the Maduro family and their postcards, and Adrien ‘Kibby’ Bouche shared wonderful stories of growing up and working in the canal zone traffic division(including…

SHIPYARD NEWS On 27 November 2023 Icon of the Seas, the largest passenger ship ever built at 250,800gt and 365m in length, was delivered to RCCL and sailed for Cadiz the next day to complete outfitting with the 2,000-plus crew, both technical and hotel, aboard (see page 12). Four days later, on 1 December 2023, Mein Schiff 7 was floated out and replaced Icon at the outfitting dock. The ship is the last to be built for German cruise company TUI Cruises, which is half-owned by RCCL. All seven Mein Schiff vessels were built in Turku, with the 111,500gt Mein Schiff 7 the third of the’bigger’ vessels following Mein Schiff 1 and 2, which were delivered in 2018 and 2019.…

SHIP ASHORE The former Tirrenia ro-ro vessel Beniamino Carnevale was one of a number of ships blown ashore during winter storms in the Mediterranean after a cable snapped while the ship was being towed from Naples to Turkey by the tug Tedy. She now faces something of an uncertain future. Officially renamed Lider Prestij following her sale earlier in 2023 to Turkish buyers for €3.25 million, the 14,398gt vessel was blown aground on the Sicilian coast in the municipality of Rometta Marea with no crew on board and no reports of pollution. Completed in 1992 by Van Der Giessen-de Noord BV Krimpen as Via Adriatico for Palermo-based Viamar Navigazione SpA, she was acquired by Tirrenia di Navigazione in 1996, and then by Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione in 2012.…

STENA LINE Stena Line achieved record levels of Ireland-France passenger and vehicle traffic between Rosslare and Cherbourg following last summer’s introduction of Stena Vision (1987/39,191gt) to sail opposite Stena Horizon (2006/27,522gt), the biggest growth coming via a 90 per cent increase in passenger numbers on the single-ship service provided by Stena Horizon. The operator attributes the increase to both the introduction of Stena Vision, with 485 cabins for 1,300 passengers, and the growing popularity of France as a destination for passengers from Ireland. Paul Grant, Stena Line’s Irish Sea Trade Director, commented: ‘Even before the pandemic the popularity of the Rosslare-Cherbourg route was growing and we were confident that adding an extra vessel would prove a success. Stena Vision has the greatest number of cabins of any vessel serving Ireland…

AMBASSADOR CRUISES In December 2022 what was then Ambassador Cruise Line’s only ship, the 1991-built Ambience, was sent to Bremerhaven for urgent attention to her lifeboat systems following an inspection, causing the loss of several cruises. A year later and she is in difficulty again after severe wear was found to both propeller shafts and stern bearings during a routine maintenance visit to Bremerhaven. The two 20m-long shafts, each weighing more than 30 tons, were extracted and shipped to Denmark for repairs by a specialist engineering company. As a result, the maintenance period was extended by some weeks, causing the cancellation of the remainder of Ambience’s 2023 programme. However, Ambassador came up with a solution to minimise the number of passengers impacted. With more than 6,000 passengers booked on the…

GERMAN NAVY Construction of the first of up to six F126 frigates for the German Navy is under way, with first steel-cutting taking place at the Peene shipyard, in Wolgast, on 5 December 2023. Despite the Dutch Damen Naval shipbuilder being the main contractor, the ships will be built entirely in Germany, at shipyards in Wolgast, Kiel and Hamburg. The steelwork and pre-assembly of the stern will take place at the Peene shipyard in Wolgast, part of the NVL Group. The bow sections will be built in Kiel, where they will be integrated with the stern. From there, they will be towed to the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg for final fitting out, commissioning, testing and delivery. With a length of 166m and a displacement of about 10,000 tonnes, the replacement…

The majority of the ferries illustrated in these drawings were operating across the English Channel, although it was common for operators to move the ships around to meet demand or provide relief cover. Some of the ships illustrated here, such as Viking I and Viking II, were ground-breaking, while others dated from the immediate post-war era and had clung on in service for more than two decades at the time of the publication of the drawings. While the majority of ferry services went out of Dover, nearby Folkestone was home to a good number of ships. Indeed, Folkestone has a long history of cross-Channel ferry services, dating back to the early 19th century. The Folkestone-Boulogne route was opened to regular traffic in 1843. The steeply graded railway down to the…

The small cruise ship Ocean Nova can trace her roots back more than 30 years, to 1992, when she was built for Arctic Umiaq Line at the Ørskov Christensen Stålskibsværft, Frederikshavn, Denmark. Named Sarpik Ittuk when first in service, she was designed by the famous naval architects Knud E. Hansen, and was one of three sisters, with ice-strengthened hulls, for service as passenger ferries along the ice-choked waters of Western Greenland, supporting the isolated communities accessible most easily by sea. Her sisters are still in service, and all are a tribute to the design and shipbuilding skills of the Danes. One sister, still with her original name of Sarfaq Ittuk, continues as the lone ferry servicing the coast of Western Greenland, for which all four sisters were intended. Another sister…

SHIPPING AT TERNEUZEN SPONSORED BY SHIPSPOTTING.COM FOR THOUSANDS MORE PHOTOGRAPHS SHIPSPOTTING.COM…

What happened next on our ‘Southern Ocean Adventure’ (see SM, Oct 2023)? The Tristan people were very welcoming and hospitable, and we quickly settled happily into island life. It was a fine sunny morning when RSA dropped anchor off the Settlement of Tristan da Cunha. There was a modest Atlantic swell running, so our three young children were loaded into a cargo sling and lowered into the Government barge, as we clambered down a rope ladder. A man was stood on the western breakwater watching to signal for a smooth time, then suddenly the engine roared, and a wave carried us into the harbour, where we were greeted by a sea of curious faces. Our adventure of four years on Tristan da Cunha had begun. I was the new Education…

DECEMBER’S MYSTERY The mystery ship I believe to be Empire Paragon, which was built in 1944 by Sir J. Laing and Sons, of Sunderland. She was built for the Ministry of War Transport and managed by Ellerman’s Wilson Line Ltd. During the war she made at least two voyages to North America from the UK. She was sold to P&O lines in 1946 and renamed Pinjarra. A steam turbine ship of 9,892grt, she was operated by P&O on the UK to Australia service with a crew of 93 until 1962, when she was sold to International Export Lines of Hong Kong, under the management of C.Y. Tung. In December 1969 she went to Kaohsiung, Taiwan for scrapping, after a 25-year career. John Jordan, Cloyne, County Cork THIS MONTH’S MYSTERY SHIP…

HOW DID YOUR CAREER DEVELOP? I joined my first ship, Anglian Sovereign, in September 2004 in Scalloway, Shetland. I worked as Deck Cadet/2nd Mate with Klyne Tugs/JP Knight, followed by time with Svitzer, SBS Marine and Swire Pacific Offshore over the course of ten years, before coming to Waverley in April 2022, and the paddler was my first command. WHAT ITINERARIES DO YOU AND THE CREW USUALLY UNDERTAKE? Taking the ship up the West Coast of Scotland is always special, where we operate out of Oban and Kyle of Lochalsh. The weather this year was fantastic, and the scenery cannot be beaten. The normal operating crew is 27 when we are on our travels. For the 2023 season the ship was crewed from 3 May and the crew remained on…

HOTEL SHIP Vancouver, Canada-based Bridgemans Services Group has positioned the former Baltic Sea ferry Isabelle to Squamish, British Columbia to house workers involved in the Woodfibre LNG export project following the vessel’s conversion into a ‘flotel’. Formerly used to house Ukrainian refugees in Estonia, the 35,154gt vessel was built by the Brodosplit yard in Yugoslavia as Isabella in 1989 for SF Line, later Viking Line, the slight change in name taking place in 2013 when acquired by Tallink. Although she was originally fitted with 2,166 passenger berths, the 169m by 28m former cruise ferry has been reconfigured with 650 single-person cabins with facilities for its new employment, along with living, dining, recreation and meeting areas. In addition, she has been equipped with advanced environmental systems, including an ultraviolet water purification…

VEHICLE CARRIER China’s Jinling Shipyard has delivered the LNG dual-fuel pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) Lake Annecy (72,800gt) to Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping for charter to Japan’s Mitsui OSK Line (MOL). Like her earlier delivered sister Lake Herman, the 199.9m by 38m newbuild has a capacity of 7,000 car-equivalent units (CEU) and makes use of a Wärtsilä main engine and hybrid propulsion system incorporating a 751kWh Corvus energy storage system (ESS) and shaft generator to give a service speed of 19.5 knots. Two 2,000m3 capacity LNG storage tanks are mounted internally. MOL has a fleet of approximately 100 car carriers under the unified MOL Auto Carrier Express (MOL ACE) brand.…

LITTLE MINCH ROUTES In December 2023 Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) announced that the names for the two new ferries that will serve the Little Minch routes will be Claymore and Lochmor. CMAL, which owns the ferries, produced two groups of names, with input from people on Harris and North Uist. Nearly 3,000 votes were cast, with Claymore and Lochmor, traditional names used previously on west coast ferries, proving the most popular. Kevin Hobbs, Chief Executive of CMAL, said: ‘I would like to thank everyone who got involved in the naming of the two new Little Minch ferries. Work is progressing well at Cemre shipyard, and we are expecting delivery of both vessels towards the second half of 2025.’ The new vessels will provide much-needed resilience to the Little Minch…

HEAVYLIFT SHIP Hamburg-based SAL Heavy Lift has completed a major reconstruction of its 2008-built heavylift ship Anne-Sofie to increase the vessel’s carrying and lifting capacity, as well as improve its environmental credentials. The rebuilt ship now features a carrying capacity of 12,000dwt with three cranes, two of which are combinable for undertaking lifts of up to 1,400 tons. In addition, a new Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS) has been installed and the hull given a Silicone Antifouling Coating to help reduce both emissions and fuel consumption. The modernised vessel will be joined in the SAL fleet by the first of two new 14,600dwt Orca class ships equipped with twin 800-ton Liebherr cranes, combinable for lifts of up to 1,600 tons. These 18.5-knot vessels, being built by China’s Wuhu Shipyard, will…

TALL SHIPS The Jubilee Sailing Trust (Tenacious) Limited (JST(T)L), the company that owned and operated the three-masted barques STS Lord Nelson and SV Tenacious, has closed. The Jubilee Sailing Trust group, which includes the company JST(T) L and the charity Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST), has been facing financial difficulty for many years due to the high costs associated with running two tall ships and trying to reach new communities. Income has not been sufficient to enable the ships to be operated. All planned voyages have been cancelled and Tenacious is to be sold. WATERFRONT • www.shipsmonthly.com • The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL • t > 01959 541444 • e > sm.ed@kelsey.co.uk…

CONDOR FERRIES New acquisition Condor Islander (2005/13,906gt) entered full service for Condor Ferries between Portsmouth and the Channel Islands in late November 2023, but, along with other vessels in the fleet, she lost sailings when an extended spell of bad weather set in. Formerly New Zealand inter-island ferry Straitsman, Condor Islander was refitted by Cammell Laird on the Mersey and then, after engine trials, lay in the Canada Dock and at Fishguard before moving to Portsmouth to begin operations. Storm Ciran affected sailings from the Islands to St Malo by Condor Voyager (2000/6,581gt) from late October into November 2023. Crossings from Portsmouth by Commodore Clipper (1999/13,460gt) and Condor Islander were also lost, with more cancellations on 12 and 13 November 2023. Commodore Clipper then developed technical problems the following day…

CARNIVAL/RCCL The Meyer Group has recently delivered two of the largest ships that it has ever built at its Turku and Papenburg shipyards. Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the lead ship in the Icon class, is officially the largest passenger ship ever built, at 248,663gt and 365m in length. She has a lower berth capacity of 5,610 passengers, but, with upper berths in use, that rises to 7,600, while her crew numbers 2,350. Icon of the Seas was handed over on 27 November 2023 by the Turku yard and her maiden revenue voyage is scheduled for 27 January from Miami to the Bahamas. Meanwhile, on 4 December 2024 the Papenburg yard delivered the final ship in the nine-strong Excel series, Carnival Jubilee. At 183,200gt, she is about as large…

INDUSTRY NEWS It is unusual for a cruise ship to be named before she embarks on a revenue-earning voyage, but the 141,420gt Celebrity Ascent sailed from her builder’s at St Nazaire to Fort Lauderdale, where she was named by Captain Sandy Yawn (TV actress) and her sister Michelle Dunham, founder of Jacksonville School for Autism, on 1 December 2023. Celebrity Ascent sailed on her maiden voyage two days later. Meanwhile, NCL’s new 143,535gt Norwegian Viva, the second ship in the project Leonardo series, completed a European cruise season before sailing to Miami to be named on 29 November by her godfather, American singer and songwriter Luis Fonsi. Still within the NCL family, the third naming was that of regent Seven Seas’ Seven Seas Grandeur, in a ceremony in Miami on…

FRENCH NAVY The French Directorate General of Armaments has ordered seven Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Marine Nationale as part of the Patrouilleurs Hauturiers programme. Three contracts, worth a total of €900 million, have been awarded to Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN), Piriou and Socarenam. The new ships will displace around 2,400 tonnes and operate with up to 84 personnel. They will feature a bridge offering a 360° panoramic view, be equipped with the latest generation RHIBs, and accommodate a Guépard Marine H160M helicopter. Naval Group will oversee the project and provide the ships with their SETIS-C combat management system. Thales are to supply and integrate the maritime surveillance sensor suite. This is to include the latest Bluewatcher hull sonar, a NS50 multi-mission compact surveillance radar and an encrypted IFF…

US NAVY The US Defense Secretary has announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, an international maritime security initiative to protect shipping in response to the escalation of attacks in the Red Sea. The Red Sea and Bab El Mandeb Strait,, through which a sixth of the world’s commercial sea trade connecting Asia and Europe passes, has become something of a shooting gallery, with Houthi forces in Yemen randomly targeting merchant vessels. On 16 December 2023 USS Carney engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems, assessed to be one-way attack drones, in just a few hours. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer had previously intercepted 22 targets. The situation has been an operational baptism of fire for the Aster 15 missile, with the French Navy’s Aquitaine class FREMM frigate, FS Languedoc, shooting down two drones, while…

CONTAINER SHIPS French container carrier CMA CGM has started taking delivery of a dozen LNG-powered container ships from Chinese builders Hudong Zhonghua and Jiangnan Shipyard with the first vessel, CMA CGM Bahia, now in service. The six ships from the Hudong Zhonghua yard will have a capacity of 13,000TEU while those from the Jiangnan facility will be of 15,000TEU. All 12 of the 336m by 51m vessels, designed for Latin American service, will feature WinGD 9X9DF-2.0 main engines and GTT Mark III LNG containment systems, the latter to have a capacity of 14,000m3. A series of nine larger 23,000 TEU container carriers to be built for CMA CGM by the same two Chinese yards will also be equipped with WinGD power plants and GTT Mark III containment systems but the…

Isle of Innisfree is a remarkable ship. She is one of the longest-serving car ferries in the history of the Channel crossing, notching up 32 years of service and counting. She is also one of just two ferries which have operated on all five of Dover’s routes to the Continent at different times: Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend and Zeebrugge. She has sailed for no fewer than seven ferry companies during her career, worn 12 different liveries at various stages, and been known by no fewer than ten names. She has never ventured outside the jurisdiction of the English Channel except for visits to shipyards. She is now considered a classic: a superferry from a bygone era of all-enclosed vehicle decks, accommodation right up to the stern end, and a traditional…

The former Cunard transatlantic passenger liner Queen Mary at Long Beach in the California sunshine in June 2023, at the site she has occupied for many years. Although her Long Beach years have not been without their problems, it seems her future is looking brighter following her closure in April 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. This gave the City of Long Beach an opportunity for a complete reset on how she will be managed, operated and maintained, and she reopened for visitors and hotel guests in May 2023. Restoration work is still ongoing, with her bridge and upper decks currently closed to visitors, although these areas are also expected to reopen soon, and there is optimism about her future, Queen Mary is an icon of British Maritime heritage and…

HMS as one of Courageous was designed Admiral Jackie Fisher’s three light battlecruisers, built for speed and to navigate the waters of the Baltic Sea, in Fisher’s unrealistic pre-World War I plan to invade Germany by way of its Baltic coastline. The order for the ship went to Armstrong Whitworth & Co on the River Tyne, with her keel being laid on 26 March 1915, at a time when it was becoming clear that the Great War would not be over quickly. She was launched some 11 months later, on 5 February 1916, and just 19 months after her keel was laid, on 4 November 1916, she was completed and commissioned. During her initial trials she sustained structural damage in heavy seas, but by early 1917 she was part of…

CUNARD LINER • CRUISE SHIPS IN SCOTLAND • USS WISCONSIN • LONDON & ROCHESTER’S ‘BARGES’ CUNARD’S QUEEN MARY 2 Stephen Payne, designer of the Cunard Line flagship Queen Mary 2, highlights the career of the ship during her first 20 years of liner and cruise operations. PLUS BATTLE STAR BATTLESHIP • The illustrious career of the Iowa class battleship USS Wisconsin, built in the 1940s and recipient of six battle stars. CRUISE SHIPS IN SCOTLAND • A look at some of the cruise visitors to Scottish waters before the pandemic, and also those that are calling once again, now the sector is expanding. FERRY DISASTERS • The ferry tragedies over the last 70 years which have seen the greatest loss of life, with a look at the factors behind the disasters. LONDON…